This month’s blog post for the soul tribe at the Storm. Go see what nourishment they are offering here.

We are all dancers in this exquisite symphony of twirling galaxies, shining stars, and spinning planets. We are part of the ebb and flow of the tides and moons, water and light, emotion and perception.

We have within us the same ingredients of everything that ever was and will ever be. We are magnificent, wondrous creatures. Each one of us a mix of all the elements, a unique embodiment of darkness and light, spirit and earth. We are spiraling magnetic beings, each with our own north and south, living in a world with its own north and south. All these moving parts and pieces, each with their own attraction and allure, constantly pulling at us and begging us to dance some more.

We were made for this dance, made to live, made to experience this world. We were given everything we need to laugh, love and create. And also everything we need to hurt, fear and destroy. And it is up to us to find our particular balance within the scope of everything. It’s a balance each soul must strike with its own divine infiniteness and this rigid space and time. We must reconcile all that is contained within us, knowing we contain a bit of it all.

And while we may seek to rid ourselves of some of these pieces, we would be left with a false account. We instead must seek to nurture our whole being, accepting the scary bits, the ugly bits, the nasty bits. For these parts of ourselves that we’ve judged as unworthy of our affection may offer us the deepest nourishment. Just like the bitter herbs that cleanse our bodies, the bitter parts of ourselves remove the limits we’ve unconsciously set upon our capacity to love.

Our fears, our suffering, our weaknesses hold within them the strong roots of compassion that remind us that every soul’s struggle is real. When we open up fully to loving ourselves, faults and all, we finally understand what it is to love and be loved unconditionally and we taste the vital sustenance only this love can provide. We cannot hope to love anything truly, knowing nothing is perfect, if we deny our own imperfections our love and acceptance. But if we can instead find the value in the depths of our darkness, we can know also the fullness of our light.

The world offers us so many ways to nourish our souls and honor our truth. We must learn it isn’t selfish to find ourselves worthy of the feast, even if we aren’t always our best. Then we must take our seat at the banquet of life, say our grace and get our fill. After all, we cannot hope to feed the love in the hearts of others if our own hearts are aching with hunger. The well nourished heart beats to the rhythm of the wild and infinite soul within us all. When we feed on those things that righteously sustain us, we open ourselves to the sublime truth of life. And through our unbound love we share the beat that reminds us all that we never truly dance alone.

There is sustenance to be found in every morsel of life. Love teaches us which parts feed our souls and which feed our soils. Open your heart and be nourished.

“When we feed and support our own happiness, we are nourishing our ability to love. That’s why to love means to learn the art of nourishing our happiness. Understanding someone’s suffering is the best gift you can give another person. Understanding is love’s other name. If you don’t understand, you can’t love.”
Thich Nhat Hanh